Chinatown Trip

I met up with Greg & Jessii to hang out in Chinatown on Monday. It was one of the rare days off that we all shared so we knew we had to take advantage of it, b/c we rarely get to hang out anymore thanks to the aforementioned varying schedules. My main mission while I was down there was to buy the DVD of Final Fantasy- Advent Children. I lucked out right away, and found a store that had the 2 disc version with the Buster Sword chain for only $25.

I also found a pretty cool deluxe figure of Sasuke from the anime- Naruto. I wanted to get figures of Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi as well, but didn’t find any to my liking. Oh well, maybe next time.

Another item I didn’t find but I hunted for were the “Perfect” (or Bilingual) Versions of the Yu Yu Hakusho Box set DVDs. There are only 4 seasons to the show and they have a box set of each for only $30 (except box 4 which is $40). But sadly they had sold the final copy of the first box earlier that day. D’OH! Oh well, I do intend to get them eventually, b/c as much as I enjoy the show on cartoon network, they just edit out way too much stuff to get the full experience of the show (hint: the manga is quite bloody and violent).

The final item I bought for the day was an N64 Gameshark. For those of you who don’t know what Gameshark’s are- they are basically things you hook to your system in order to hack into the codes of games. You can do this in order to cheat at games (which is what most people use them for) OR to alter things in games. The reason I bought the N64 gameshark is because I have gotten back into the old N64 Wrestling game- WWF No Mercy. I still regard it to this day as the greatest wrestling game ever- even better than the recent Smackdown vs Raw games. I hadn’t played it in many months (probably almost a year) due to the fact that it had gotten a bit outdated wrestler-wise and I was too lazy to create the newer guys. But I found a great website with templates for all the guys I would need, so I have been updating the game like crazy over the past week and just having an all around great time playing it. Thing is the website has tons of info on “hacked” wrestlers and moves that weren’t in the game originally that look pretty freakin cool. So not wanting to be left out, I bought the Gameshark so I can now add these new “hacked” items into my game for an even more fun experience. I haven’t had a chance to try it out yet, but I’m looking forward to it.

-And that was pretty much all I bought. The rest of the time we spent just hanging out and wandering around Chinatown. It was a good time for us "geeks," heh.

The past month- in blog form!

So yeah, it’s been awhile since I actually updated on what’s been going on in my life (with the exception about my quick blurb last post).

Well things for the most part have been fairly quiet. Been trying not to spend as much money lately b/c Christmas hit me hard and I'm also saving for our trip to Puerto Rico in May, so our weekend’s have been spent mostly just chilling in. But there have been a few things worth mentioning.

Going back a few weeks, I actually found three out of the four Star Wars Transformers figures and bought them. I got Darth Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi and General Grievous. Sadly I’m missing Luke Skywalker, which is the one I wanted the most, but oh well. I’m sure I will find it at some point soon. I’m still debating whether I should open them or not. The look cool in the boxes but they are in vehicle form. I’d be tempted to open them up to transform them, but I have like NOWHERE to place them. So we’ll see.

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Been to two big birthday bashes within the past month. First was Henry’s which took place at Kelly & Ping's down in the city. Tons of people came so a good time was had by all. The other party was actually just this past weekend. It was Phil’s B-day and it was held at the new Japanese Hibachi Steakhouse- Ohana on City Island. The food there was excellent and was fairly priced too, considering how much food you get. So even though I didn’t know as many people as I did at Henry’s party, we had a good time (mostly b/c I was at a pretty good table).

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About two weeks back, I went with Ariana, my mom and Pat out to a mall way out in Jersey. We went mostly b/c my mom wanted to go to this department store- Ross. I had never been to it before, but it was something along the lines of Marshall’s and TJ Maxx but with better prices. We got a bit lost on the way there (mostly b/c the directions we got really sucked) but we made it there safely so that’s what counts. The place was actually pretty decent and even I found a few good deals, but that will prob be my last time out there b/c it’s kind of far to make it worth it.

After the shopping we decided to go to dinner at the Olive Garden. Believe it or not, I had actually NEVER been to an Olive Garden before. I’ve heard mixed reviews on the place. Most people say it’s pretty good, except for actual Italians and Hispanics who obviously will prefer how it’s made at home. But I thought it was pretty good for the most part. I kept it simple just getting Chicken Parmagian b/c I figured, “there’s just about no way to really mess that up” and it worked out well for me, heh.

The next day was a pretty chill in day. I went on to finally beat Suikoden IV that morning. It took me about 63 hours total. I probably could have beaten it in around 50, but I was enjoying doing a lot of the sidequests and just level-building. Overall, the game was pretty good but I still prefer the 3rd installment over this one. Now I just gotta figure on what game I’m going to start next. Me and Ariana still have Fantastic Four to get through before we even begin X-Men Legends 2, so I’ll need something to do on my own in the meantime. I might actually go semi- old school and go back to some of my uncompleted PSOne games and actually start up Chrono Cross. I’ve had the game for years but never got around to playing it (even though I loved the original in the series- Chrono Trigger). So hopefully I will get a chance to get through it now.

Then later that night we went to Joe & Patty’s place for their annual Superbowl party. We had a good time as always, and I was actually fairly into the game even though it’s been critically regarded as not a very good game. But hey, I had fun so that’s all that counts.

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-Celebrated Valentine’s Day a few days early (on the Saturday preceding) b/c we didn’t want to be involved in the huge rush of Valentine’s Day itself. Plus it was also supposed to snow pretty bad and we didn’t want any plans to get ruined. We wound up going to The Harbor on City Island and had a great dinner together. Then on V-day itself, we exchanged gift. I got Ariana a bunch of Betty Boop related items- a really nice watch, a throw and a bed set. She was thrilled with all the items, especially the throw, so I was proud of my purchases. Ariana wound up getting me Super Smash Bros Melee for the Gamecube (cuz I had been wanting it for awhile), a PS2 DVD remote (so I wouldn’t have to use the controller to do everything) and a wireless PS2 controller (cuz she noticed how much I fell in love with my Gamecube Wavebird controller). So I was very happy with my gifts, especially since most were pretty unexpected and thoughtful.

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Oh and I guess I can’t continue with this post without at least mentioning the insane snowstorm we had the other weekend. Looking in retrospect I pulled a bit of a bonehead move and stayed over Ariana’s place on Saturday night b/c while we were hanging out at her place I noticed the snow coming down pretty bad and didn’t feel like driving through it that night and figured I’d deal with it in the morning. Now I had heard it was supposed to be a huge storm, but I just had a feeling it wouldn’t be that bad.

Well obviously I turned out to be very, very wrong. It took quite awhile to dig my car out of it’s parking space. The one saving grace was that I parked over by the armory near her house, which is 90 degree back in parking. So I only had to clean out in front of the car in order to escape my spot. Getting home and back into my own driveway was the big problem though. When I got back the snow was too high in my driveway, even though my mom and Pat had done some shoveling there. So I cleaned the rest of it, but my car had gotten stuck where I had parked it when I got out to clean the driveway. It wound up being pretty bad and couldn’t get out even with a few of the neighbors pushing my car. Well at least we couldn’t get out right away that is. Eventually we were able to free my car but it was still difficult to get into my driveway. So the neighbors and Pat suggested I just loop around my block and try to come in from the other direction and maybe I’d have better luck. Sadly, I made the bonehead move of listening to their retarded plan. When I was around the block I got stuck in more snow and at one point when I was trying to free myself, my freakin tire peeled off from the rim!!

Yes, you read that right, it peeled off the damn rim. I was stuck in the snow and not moving when it happened, so I didn’t realize what happened right away. But then I saw smoke coming from under the car and I was like “what the hell?” and a guy walking by noticed and pointed out that my tire had peeled off. The tire was barely hanging on and was partially burnt/melted b/c of the few seconds that I had run the tire after (since as I said, I wasn’t aware what happened at first). Thankfully, as I said, I was only around the corner from my house. So Pat came by and helped me dig out some snow from around the car so we could change the tire. It took awhile but thankfully we got home safe. Still sucked though b/c on Tuesday (b/c I took Monday to just recuperate) I was stuck running around with my grandfather to get new tires, replace them, go to the place where I got the original tire to complain that it was defective (b/c the tire was only about a year and a half old, and I don’t drive around THAT much that the tire should have been messed up like that), an d finally I had to take both mine and Pat’s coats to the cleaners b/c they were both all gross with burnt rubber marks (which really pissed me off, b/c I was wearing my brand new coat which I hadn’t been wearing for even a month yet). So yeah that was not fun. But thankfully things seem to have worked out (still waiting on my coat but I have faith it will come out alright).

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-In other, lighter news- wrestling has actually been picking up in the last few weeks. Still not great as it once was, but it’s been fun. The other week I actually ordered my first ever TNA PPV- Against All Odds and it was probably one of the best overall PPVs I’ve seen in years. It featured an insane Rhino vs Abyss- Falls Count Anywhere match, a triple threat match between Samoa Joe, AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels (which was sweet!) and the main event saw Christian Cage defeat Jeff Jarrett for the NWA World title in a fun match. And at the end of the match half the audience stormed the ring to celebrate Christian’s title win in a scene reminiscent of ECW days when fans did a similar stunt when the Public Enemy won the tag titles, but then the ring collapsed under the weight of all the people. Luckily, there was no ring crashing this time, but my best friend, Chaz, was actually in Orlando for the show and was one of the lucky bastards to get into the ring and he got to say congratulations to Christian and celebrate with the other fans and wrestlers. So yeah I gotta say I was pretty damn jealous, heh.

And on the WWE side of things, me and Ariana were actually forced to order the latest WWE PPV- No Way Out this past Sunday b/c we initially went to Phil’s like we always do but for some reason the PPV didn’t work so we went back to my place to watch it. Thankfully it was actually a really strong show, which featured what was probably one of the greatest main events the company has seen in a couple of years with Kurt Angle vs The Undertaker. I can’t do justice with words as to how awesome that match was. Definite match of the year candidate for work-rate alone. If you can find a torrent file of it, I suggest you get it.

Finally, I had lost my Fantasy title 2 weeks ago due to my slow start this season. But I told Chaz before week 3 was over that I would have my title back by week 6 and that whoever had it in the meantime would be nothing more than a “transitional champion”. Well after Monday Night Raw this week I’m back on top (coming all the way up from 8th place) and barring any really crazy unexpected happenings on Smackdown I should be Fantasy Champ again. And this is just week 5, putting me ahead of my original prediction. So that just makes me even more awesome. ;-P

And I've rambled on quite enough for one day, so I'll just save some stuff for tomorrow, heh.

"We Don't Need No Education..."

Or at least that's what President Bush and his cronies must be thinking at the moment, but that's a rant for another time. I just couldn't think of a wittier title, heh.

But yeah, one of the major things I’ve been doing lately is researching and applying for different graduate schools in the area. I really want to go back to school (well not really WANT to as much as NEED to) just so I can hurry up and get a degree so I can get a higher paying job. So far I have filled out and handed in an application for Mercy College and I am in the process of filing ones for Hunter College and Manhattan College as well. I’m looking for a Counseling Program, but one with more of a slant towards the education system like they had here at Fordham. I don’t want to be a school psychologist though, just a counselor, which narrows my choices a bit since most programs are either for school psychologists or for Mental Health Counseling but I’m sure I’ll get in somewhere that has what i want.

I’m kind of torn as to where I’d prefer to go though. Mercy seems a little bit of a more laid-back program (not easy, but pretty understanding that the people taking these courses have lives outside of school), but Hunter is a CUNY and is just much cheaper. Manhattan College is also cheaper than Mercy, but its program seems hardcore as I would need to do a thesis, a research project AND take the Comps, whereas most other programs just require the Comps. I know it may seem lazy but dammit, I don't feel like writing a thesis or doing a damn research project. The Comps should be more than enough to get a Master's Degree and a license. I'm basically already doing what I want to be doing, and in no way, shape or form would any of those things be necessary for me to be a full time high school or college advisor/counselor. I'm not gonna do more work than I need to. I'm not the biggest fan of school, but I do know that I NEED to go back so I'll do what I must but I'm not gonna kill myself either. Especially when I know certain things truly aren't necessary.

Another thing to think about is, right now I’m working in Yonkers, and would like to continue to, but who knows where I will end up after Aug 31st, since it’s looking more and more likely that the gov’t will be shutting down the program I work for (but as I said earlier that’s a tale for another time, just know that I dislike Pres. Bush even more as the days go by). So the school’s proximity to where I work can shape up to be another major factor.

But yeah wish me luck with all that. Hopefully schools will be more understanding than Fordham was. I just want to be done with school once and for all, so I pray it won’t get delayed any longer.

Hard work pays off

I've been working out quite a bit the past two months (thanks to Dance Dance Revolution, lots of crunches and ab stuff, and other cardio) in an effort to lose some of the weight I've gained in the past year or so. I've been doing about 320 calories minimum at a time, or up to 30-50 minute sessions. Well my efforts are paying off, as I was about 188 pounds around Christmas time, and I've now dropped down to 176 pounds.

That's about the weight I was aiming for, now I just gotta tone up (maybe lose up to 5 more pounds so that way when I start putting muscle on I won't gain too much of the weight back).

So yeah, go me!

Web Junk

Not too much of note has gone on in the past few weeks (well at least nothing any of you would probably care to read about), but I figured I'd share a few laughs through these hilarious web videos I became aware of through VH-1's new show "Web Junk 20."

The show is basically a top 20 countdown of funny videos from the web. These are just a few they've shown in the past month.

-This first one is probably my favorite. It's a video of an evangelical preacher doing a televised sermon which was edited to make it seem like the preacher is farting like crazy. I know it sounds dumb, but check it out. The timing on this thing is just too good and the facial reactions and the things the preacher says just make it even more hilarious.

- This next video is also pretty amusing. It's of a dog that suffers from narcolepsy. I won't ruin what exactly happens, but it should give you a chuckle at the very least (and for the ladies probably an "awww").

- I don't know what kind of show this aired on (although it seems like it's from a kid's show), but it's just so disturbing. It's called the "Proper Word" song. I guess it's supposed to be aimed at kid's like the one from Kindergarten Cop- "Boys have a penis and girls have a vagina!"

- I think the best blurb for this video came from the host of Web Junk 20 itself- "this video is proof that we are losing the war on drugs." It's the "llama song." Enjoy.

- This video looks like it was some kind of on-site news report where the host is sitting in a field, but then unbeknownst to him, a kangaroo comes up in the background and well I won't ruin what happens, just check it out.

- And for the final video, two words should be sufficient enough to get everyone to click on this link- NINJA MONKEY!

- Oh wait... one last video. My favorite commercial from tonight's Superbowl. The Magic Fridge.

So yeah, hope you enjoy the videos. I'll probably update with real stuff later in the week, but this should tide everyone over in the meantime.